Past Grants Awarded

Appalachian Mountain Club Historical Photograph Digitization Project

Scanning and inventory 1,000 photographic prints of New Englanders enjoying the outdoors between 1930-1950.

The A.R.T of Human Rights

An extensive collaborative program exploring art and human rights, to be held as interactive seminars, theatrical productions and public conversations at the Loeb Drama Center and participating schools and organizations.

Religion Refocused

A partnership with upwards of ten faith-based groups of diverse traditions uniting to host five film-and-discussion events on civics and religion.

Women at Work: An Oral History of Working Class Women in Fall River, MA 1910-1940

Documentation of the oral histories of the working-class life of women and/or their descendants during the 1910-1940 period.

James Baldwin Transmedia Project

A series of six events combining film, live performances, and conversations with community leaders and humanities scholars on Baldwin's life, work, and message of equality.

Work + House Research and Exhibit Grant

Research, design, and installation of Work + House, an exhibit focused on workers' housing in the city's industrial past that began with the paper and textile mills.

Family Reading Program

A reading and discussion series for fathers and their five-to-nine year olds based on our Family Adventures in Reading program.

Gardner's Colony for the Insane: A Story to Tell

Inventory of negatives and photographs taken at Gardener's Colony for the Insane during the 1950s and 1960s and reproduce them in print for researchers and online for the public.

Proctor Comb and Button Manufacturing Inventory

Inventory of 12 boxes of artifacts and records from the Proctor Comb and Button Manufacturing Company, a significant industry in the town from the mid-1800s into the early 1900s.

Multi-Sensory Interpretation at Gore Place

Finalization of improvements to their accessibility measures for sight-impaired visitors, including experiential interpretation, and for a workshop sharing best practices learned from this project.

Sanford Tavern Archaeology Field Training Program

A summer school for budding archaeologists from underserved area high schools.

The Golden Door

Performances of a new musical play on the immigration history of Boston and honoraria for a humanities scholar and panelists for post-performance talk back in three communities.

Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein" in a new adaptation.

Production of two performances of an adaptation of Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein" with performances at Springfield Historical Museum and including an educational outreach component to include Springfield youth participants and play development workshops in Greenfield.

Worcester Revolution 1774

A county-wide reenactment of the events of September, 1774, when the local British government was overthrown by weaponless militiamen.

Sojourner Truth's Florence

Transportation of 75 Commonwealth Academy students to Sojourner Truth's Florence abolition and slavery walking tour, which will also be overhauled with streamlined, age-appropriate educational materials and online resources.

Listening to Change on Working Waterfront

Development of a thematic and comprehensive understanding of facilitated discussion with the fishing community recorded since 2004 on the Narrative Stage and preparation of the materials for archival storage and public access.

The Mildred Files

Production of a new, original play, The Mildred Files about a scandal involving the Academy's past interim director. The performance is part of the Academy's Women's Work Initiative, a multi-year series of events and productions focused on women in the performing arts.

Counting the People

Development and implementation a multi-lingual exhibit of census-based maps of Boston telling the story of recent immigration in the city.

Poverty, Place, Disability & Mutual Aid

An online exhibit and curriculum unit to be developed within the existing Disability History Museum website using the story of Anne Sullivan (Hellen Keller's famous teacher and Agawam, MA, resident) to tell the story of disability rights and poverty advocacy.

Mill, Mountain, River: A Child's Eye View of Olde Colraine

A residency to produce the local history theatre piece Mill, Mountain, River: A Child's Eye View of Olde Colraine alongside third and fourth graders in Colrain, MA. The play tells the story of child workers in the Griswoldville factories and will be produced over two weeks and presented publicly as well as to the school community.

Boston Muslim Film Festival

Support for speakers, scholars, and publicity materials for the seventh annual Boston Muslim Film Festival.

Stony Beach Outdoor Interpretation

Production and installation of outdoors signage to help visitors interpret the history of the precarious entrance to Boston Harbor as viewed from Stony Beach in Hull, including the stories of pilots, lifesavers, lighthouse keepers and more.

9 to 5 Project

Pre-production of a one hour television documentary on the untold story of women clerical workers organizing for pay equity, advancement, and recognition. The 9 to 5 Project addresses a significant aspect of feminist social movement history in the U.S. and raises important questions about labor history.

Lowell's "Irish Problem:" The Town Vote to Fund a School for the Irish

Production of a short film about historical discrimination against the Irish in Lowell. Lowell's "Irish Problem": The Town Vote to Fund a School for the Irish will be incorporated into fourth grade curricula.

Engaging Student Audiences with Playbills

Creation of multi-lingual playbills for the company's Road to Tolerance cycle of five plays, to be presented to Boston Public School students.

Seams

Support for development of the film Seams, a poetic oral history of women's experiences of the conflict between Britain and Ireland.

Teachers Summer Institutes: Engaging New Audiences in Boston's Public Schools and Community Colleges

Two four-day summer institutes for 60 Boston-area teachers. The institutes are loosely organized around the theme of women in African American history.

Worcester Revolution 1774

A county-wide reenactment of the events of September, 1774, when the local British government was overthrown by weaponless militiamen.

Odd Couples: Literary Feuds, Friendships and Falling-outs

A four-part reading and discussion group exploring the works of four pairs of authors who were known to have a complicated relationship with one another.

Whitin Documentary

A pre-production grant to ValleyCAST for a script and trailer for a documentary about the Whitin family's mills in Whitinsville, MA and the employees in this company town.

Robbins House Exhibit Planning & Development Grant

Core exhibit planning for the Robbins House, a home built by the son of slavery survivor and Revolutionary War veteran Caesar Robbins in the early 1800s.

Re-Visioning Tomorrow: Emancipation for a New Century

A series of six staged readings of plays from August Wilson's ten-play cycle about the lives of African Americans in the decades of the twentieth century.

Reflections on Race

Support for a script and trailer for a documentary film about the meaning of race in America.

Du Bois in Our Time

Springfield-based programs featuring artists whose new work about the vision of W.E.B. Du Bois will be exhibited at the Umass Amherst Museum of Contemporary Art.

Agreeing to Disagree: Civility in Public Discourse

Three one-hour radio segments taking a look at civility (and the lack thereof) in public discourse.

Carnaval!

An exhibit and programs exploring the history and culture of Carnival in eight communities in Europe and the Americas.

Splendid Splitters: Axes, Axemen, and the Building of the USS Constitution

A video installation about how Old Ironsides was built by skilled boatwrights, focusing on the all important axe.

Paul Revere Artisan and Businessman: The Enduring Legacy

Design and fabrication of a display about the varied career and entrepreneurship of Paul Revere.

Boston Book Festival 2013

Three days of varied programs with multiple literary collaborators including authors of national repute.

Emilie: The Marquise de Chatelet Defends Her Life Tonight